Broad Cove Marine Newsletter

TheBroad Cove Current
A Newsletter featuring Broad Cove Marine Services
As summer 2011 comes to an end...
As the long summer days get shorter and cooler, operations at Broad Cove Marine shift to
off-season activities. During this period BCMS offers a wide range of services including:
• Boat Winterization consists of annual maintenance, shrink-wrapping and boat storage
for both power & sail boats. Sails are sent out for cleaning & repair.
• Float Services Customer floats are hauled & stored on shore. Over the winter, the BCMS
crew builds new floats for customers & repairs damaged ones.
• Winter Property Checks Island & other summer property owners use BCMS property
check & maintenance service to provide peace-of-mind during the off-season.
• Holiday Lobster can be shipped overnight anywhere so you can continue to enjoy fresh
Maine lobster back home!
“BCMS is truly a community enterprise, and we can all take a measure of pride in our
continuing efforts to strengthen and preserve this vital institution for the next generation”
- Alexander T. Farley, BCMS Board Chairman
Familiar Faces at BCMS
The Broad Cove Current
From the beginning Blair Pyne’s vision for BCMS was to
serve the needs of both summer residents and Bremen
fishermen in a working waterfront environment. Despite
occasional conflicts, the two populations have successfully rubbed shoulders on the wharf for over 20 years, and
both have gained from the experience.
When asked what they have enjoyed most about BCMS
over the years, Blair and Sherry agreed it’s the people.
Blair explains, “ Broad Cove people are not just customers, they are all friends and 70% of the island customers I have known my whole life”.
With high fuel prices, lobstermen today need better boat prices to make a decent living. Blair would
like to see BCMS retail more of the lobster catch in
the future so lobstermen can receive a higher boat
price. The recent expansion of our dockside menu
to include lobster rolls is just a small first step toward achieving that goal.
Sherry Pyne has managed the dock store & cookhouse for many years, and her influence is
still very much in evidence. Did you notice the pretty flowerbeds & hanging pots this year?
The fresh coat of paint in the store? The new floor tiles? The helpful friendly staff? Sherry’s
work.
Blair is still the go-to-guy for all marine services at BCMS. If you need boat storage, float
service, or help with any nautical problem, Blair knows what to do or can tell you who to
call.
As for their future involvement, Blair wants to be more of an “advising consultant”. Sherry
agrees, “ Its time to let someone else take over” she says. But don’t worry just yet because they
both plan to stay involved and will continue to help out for the next few summers at BCMS
before they take off on a European adventure.
My Dad’s a Lobsterman
By: Sierra Eugley, BCMS summer staff member
Not all Maine lobstermen were born here: My dad was born in Manassas Virginia. He moved to Waldoboro at the age of 6 & has been lobstering and shrimping for 20 years.
Like most lobstermen, he started lobstering as a stern-man with a family member, in this case his
brother-in-law. With the help of his father-in-law and brother-in-law he learned where to set traps
according to the time of year (spring time: rocky bottom, summertime: shallow water, fall: deep water
and mud gulleys). Herring is placed in a bait bag and tied in the trap. The trap is set according to
season, but for at least a 4-5-night set before the trap is hauled. Each lobster in a trap is measured using a state regulated gauge. Keepers measure 3-¼ inch up to a 5 inches from inside the eye socket to
the end of the body (right where the tail starts). Lobsters over 5 inches must be thrown back (they are
considered “good breeding” lobsters). The tail flippers must also be checked to make sure the second
flipper on the right does not have a V-notch in it (which means, its an egg-bearing female). These must
be thrown back too. Hauling & grading lobsters only to drop them overboard is a lot of extra work,
but necessary to insure a future for our fishery.
No doubt you have seen hundreds of colorful buoys bobbing in Muscongus Bay. Every lobsterman’s
traps are marked by different color painted buoys.
A typical day of lobstering starts at first light, hauling the
first trap ½ hour before dawn. With a stern-man tending the bait, the lobsterman picks out the legal lobsters.
Stern-man bands the lobsters and puts them in the tank.
Depending on the catch, he may shift the traps to deeper
water where there might be more lobsters. On a typical
day he’s back at the dock to unload at 2-3 o’clock.
A major challenge is not knowing whether the traps are
set in the right spot to make enough income. Its hard
physical work. The biggest challenge is probably the
weather. Dad says he enjoys fall because there are lots of
lobsters, and on flat-calm early mornings it’s especially
fine to be on the water.
Fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations. My dad recalls getting caught in a nor’easter 15
miles off shore, blowing 50 knots (60 mph) and only being able to go forward .5 knot at a time. Took
all day to get back to the harbor and battling 12-15 ft waves with 700 lbs of shrimp aboard (Very
scary). Fishing for lobster in the River is safer but not without substantial risks. Sonny Prior tells about
the time his skiff upended in a breaker when the temperature was well below zero. Somehow he made
it to the beach, his trousers were frozen boards of ice.
In springtime, lobstermen occasionally catch really big over-sized lobsters: 3-4 ft long weighing up to
15-18 lbs. But their least favorite part of the business is hauling empty traps.
The Annual 4th Celebration
John Curtis describes the annual fourth of July festivities at BCMS, “This was our 4th year! We
had forty-eight people eating MAINELY Lobster, steamers, salad and a few sausage and dogs”.
www.BroadCoveMarine.com
Broad Cove Marine is located on the beach at the end of Medomak Road in Bremen
374 Medomak Road
Bremen, ME 04551
(207) 529-5186
[email protected]
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